Posted on 09/08/2006 10:27:53 AM PDT by radar101
Members of Congress petitioning the president to pardon two U.S. Border Patrol agents convicted of assaulting an illegal alien who was trying to smuggle drugs into the U.S. are now calling for an investigation of the U.S. attorney who prosecuted the agents.
"These were good agents doing their job," said Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.). "There is something that stinks to high heaven."
On Feb. 17, 2005, U.S. Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean were on duty when they encountered Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila in a van carrying 743 pounds of marijuana. When the agents tried to stop Aldrete-Davila, he fled. Unable to shake the pursuing agents, he abandoned his van and continued running toward Mexico.
The agents' version of what happened next contradicts Aldrete-Davila's testimony. The one thing all agree on is that, while fleeing on foot, the illegal alien and drug smuggler was shot. Aldrete-Davila was treated at a hospital in El Paso and then returned to Mexico.
After learning of the shooting, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton sought out Aldrete-Davila in Mexico and offered him immunity from prosecution if he would return to the United States to testify against Ramos and Compean.
The initial immunity offer covered Aldrete-Davila's illegal entry into the U.S., the drug smuggling and his unlawful flight from the agents to avoid arrest. Sutton expanded the immunity to include a subsequent drug offense, when Aldrete-Davila tried to smuggle another 1,000 pounds of marijuana into the United States.
"The Justice Department says they don't have the resources to secure our borders, but somehow they found the resources to send agents to Mexico to find Aldrete-Davila and prosecute these agents," Tancredo said.
Rep. Red Poe (R-Texas) said the Justice Department is "on the wrong side" of this case.
"It appears as though they are working for the government of Mexico instead of the government of the United States," Poe said. "Instead of prosecuting [the agents], they should be giving them a medal."
Sentencing hearings for the agents have been postponed twice and are now scheduled for Oct. 18. They each face from five to 20 years in prison.
"It will absolutely be a sin, it will be a crime if these agents go to jail," said Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.).
Jones has discussed the case with Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and the White House. He told Cybercast News Service that "Something is not right. Washington, D.C. needs to look into that office's activities."
"We need to start asking questions and go down to Texas and find out if there is a problem," he added, noting that there is a history of Sutton pursuing cases against law enforcement officials. "If the American people rally behind these two agents, then we can certainly look into the actions of the federal office down in Texas."
Sutton's office did not return phone calls requesting comment for this article.
That’s the just of it. However from everything I have read there was no underlining crime. The agent stated he thought the perp had a gun and the only witness who claims he did not was the perp. The perp jumped into the Rio Grande so the weapon could not be recovered.
The agents claimed that they did not believe they hit the perp so rather than spend the rest of the day writing memos, they made the mistake of not reporting the weapons discharge. (a policy violation not a crime).
If the perp had a gun, then no “crime” was committed, only a policy violation (failure to report a weapons discharge) to which I believe they should be fired not imprisoned.
There are only 3 entities that “know” if the perp had a gun, the agent, the perp and God. Since God has not weighted in on the issue, it comes down to the credibility of the other two. Two highly regarded Agents who have never had a disciplinary action or a career drug smuggler.
Why not give Lon Horiuchi immunity to testify against Vicki Weaver?
Your answer to that ought to be quite enlightening.
Bottom line: the agents' conduct during and after the event demonstrates wrongful intent. It always has. It always will.
Well, there's a problem. The agent said that the perp turned toward him and made the infamous "furtive gesture." Problem: the perp was shot in the a$$. Physical evidence does not match agent's testimony. Coupled with destruction of evidence, that's enough to establish mens rea.
The agents claimed that they did not believe they hit the perp so rather than spend the rest of the day writing memos, they made the mistake of not reporting the weapons discharge. (a policy violation not a crime).
You are forgetting that they also destroyed evidence that indicated the agent had fired his gun.
If the perp had a gun, then no “crime” was committed, only a policy violation (failure to report a weapons discharge) to which I believe they should be fired not imprisoned.
Key word in bold.
One may not engage in hypotheticals without end; they must, ultimately, be anchored in the facts of the case. If you report that the perp has a gun, there'd better be a gun--or something that can reasonably be construed to be a gun--at hand.
Police shoot fleeing suspects all of the time. I don't necessarily agree with it but it happens.
I agree. If these cops did what you say they did, they should do some time.
B.S. And if they'd have used deadly force, he'd be dead. He was shot in the @ss.
Now that's just a wee bit over the top, don't you think? You sound like a FOBLer.
Which is preventing the commission of a capital crime such as murder or rape.
It's easy to point fingers from the air conditioned comfort of your home. Unless you were there, you don't really know what happened.
I'm a medically-retired cop (medically retired after losing most of one of my favorite lungs in a shooting). What I do know has happened is the following:
1. Border agent claimed after the shooting came to light that the smuggler turned and made the infamous "furtive gesture."
2. Smuggler was shot in the a$$--i.e., from behind.
3. Next problem: the border patrol agents destroyed evidence and ensured that this was not reported.
4. When this finally came to light, they proceeded to tell a tale of the guy turning toward them and having something like a gun. However, no gun is found.
5. Border agents' statement compared to wounds on smuggler. Smuggler shot from behind, so he was NOT turned toward the agents as described. Further, the agents went out of their way to collect spent brass from the shooting. Taken together, the agents' concealment, alteration, and destruction of evidence, and their statements that are at odds with the physical evidence available, and you have consciousness of guilt.
The "you don't know" silliness is just that--silliness. What is known is damning in the extreme.
No B.S. That's the law.
And if they'd have used deadly force, he'd be dead. He was shot in the @ss.
Deadly force is that force which, when applied to a human being, is likely to cause death or serious bodily injury. Shooting someone is likely to cause death or serious bodily injury--even if the bullet hits them in the @ss.
Shooting at someone on the other side of an international border is, technically speaking, an act of war against the country on the other side of the border. FReepers accuse Mexico of an act of war if someone shoots at a Border Patrol agent--and they are right to do so.
The problem here is that, because they are agents of the United States government (hence the term "border patrol agents), this act, unless it is repudiated, is casus belli--admittedly, a very small level of casus belli, but that's like being "a little pregnant." It's still pretty damn serious.
Not as often as on TV cop shows, and only when the severity of the suspected crime justifies it, or if the police officer reasonably fears for his life or the life of others.
So their so-called crime is so much worse than the illegal trying to bring hundreds of pounds of marijuana into this country to help destroy who knows how many lives that they deseve years in prison and the illegal who broke multiple laws gets a free pass?.......what are you smoking?
I'd generally rate illegally shooting someone and concealing that fact to be far more serious than smuggling marijuana.
Not if one knows how to handle a gun.
"If he'd turned toward them, why did he only get shot in the a$$?"
you say you were a cop, then you write the above. Are you kidding me?
Shooting at someone--even if you miss them completely--is applying deadly force. That has been the law of the land since its founding. Pretending that it isn't merely shows that one is ignorant of the law and common sense.
Unlike many people on this thread, I know enough about human anatomy and firearms to understand that one does not get hit in the a$$ if one is shot from a frontal aspect.
I suggest you read the border patrol agent's detailed account.
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